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Doug Martin’s Return

August 9th, 2014

Doug Martin had a scant eight yards of offense in his return from an injury-shortened season

As Joe tried to drink away last night’s memory of one of the most horrid NFL offensive line displays ever witnessed, Joe nearly wiped out the memory of the return the Muscle Hamster himself, stud running back Doug Martin.

Aside from the fact it was Martin’s first game back after a season-ending injury, when he lost half of 2013 with a ripped up shoulder, it was a forgettable night. The Bucs lost and Martin had but six yards on three carries and caught one pass for a paltry two yards.

Some of Martin’s struggles had to do with an offensive line that couldn’t block a cool breeze last night; a shameful performance.

Still, despite the loss and no room to run (forward), Martin’s spirits were high because he got to don Bucs colors in a game again.

“It felt really good,” Martin said “It’s been a long time since I got injured last season, and it felt really good to be back on the field and get some full contact action. My body feels good right now. I only got a few snaps, but just getting back out there felt good.

“I got out there, I felt like I had my burst. My speed was there. I caught the ball that was thrown to me and I felt really good coming off of that. We still have some kinks to work out, but that’s what we’re going to do during practice and that’s what the preseason is for.”

Look, this offense is going to crumble unless the offensive line makes significant strides in a short few weeks. Could you imagine last night’s performance against the Stinking Panthers stout defensive front? Joe can’t begin to imagine.

Yes, yes, yes, it was the first quarter of the first preseason game. Do people not remember the sad performance of the offensive line last year in a waxing by the Baltimore Crows to open the preseason?

People waved off the lousy debut as just being the first quarter of the first preseason game. How much did that line improve? It was the same line that so impressed Bucs coach Lovie Smith, he gutted it and all but started from scratch.

25 Responses to “Doug Martin’s Return”

We have 4 really good RBs and no really good Guards….that makes no sense at all. I like this better…….how about 2 really good RBs & 2 really good Guards……you can pick the two RBs to go. We have cap space and tradeable players…..time to deal!!!

I get the distinct feeling that the new up tempo offense will be keep secret until week 1, and can only hope that the woes on the line are largely disguised by the Chip Kelly like speed. No way did we see any sign of the new system that the players have been speaking about, against the Jags.

I posted last night that I did not think Doug did as much with that bad oline as the other backs. I was trying to remember if he was lighting it up last year before he went out and I did not think he was. Had to go look at the stats.
Here they are:
Name Att Yards YPC
D.Martin 127 456 3.6
M.James 60 295 4.9
B.Rainey 137 532 3.9

This will be interesting to keep an eye on because it is not apparent anymore that he is the best RB on the roster.

Hi Joe, I have been visiting your site everyday and everybody here knew our O-line was not going to be any good way before last night on TV, My question is why did’nt our coaches? Last night they looked shocked.. Soggybottom says WOW..

Agreed cousins should not be on team period and Meredith is a backup. Hope Edwards and omameh are better or even Jace Daniels. Otherwise make a run at alex Boone for 49ers or Mathis from eagles. 2 quality guys looking for deals and teams don’t want to pay. Heck Mathis was rated top 3 guard last two years. Take the extra money saved with nicks and pay a little more to get a 2 or 3 yr done

I absolutely agree with Tbbf… I say trade Martin and a pick (if we have to) for homeboy from the 49ers & try to sign Incognito or trade an additional RB for some other guard. If the Cousins & Meredith start again, Lovie should be fired. J/K, but Kadeem Edwards & Omameh better start next week. (Just for evaluation purposes)

Nobody is trading anything or anyone for a running back. Remember how well that worked out for the Colts last year? And that was during the season when a winning team decided it needed a running game. Remember how Schiano plucked players off the scrap heap that looked just fine? No, it’s a fantasy. Just hope for cuts and a quick pitch offense.

Okay, I will say this loud and clear, and I do not care if I offend anyone.

Anyone saying we should trade Doug Martin is a total, complete idiot.

First, with a good oline he can perhaps be for the Bucs what Emmitt was for the cowboys. Second, it was the first preseason game. Stop being sissy’s.

I agree the oline is bad. So what? You people act like the entire complete team could be overturned in the first season.

You people have been warned repeatedly that it would not happen that fast, yet you dummies still insisted it would. I even warned you that all you were setting yourselves up for is disappointment and a stressful season because your expectations were so high.

This is how you should view the team this year:

Trust in Lovie to turn this team into a superbowl contender by next year. This year? Decide to accept 7 wins with the knowledge that the rest of the areas will be fixed in the following off season. Anything more than 7 wins? It’s a bonus and will be reason to rejoice.

The man cannot get rid of so many players and replace them all with quality players in one season. It is impossible.

The simple truth is this…we have to hope the oline improves as the season progresses.

I was on the fence concerning Josh McCown. Last night showed me that he can “potentially” carry the team for a year or two, as long as the oline can keep him healthy.

I’m not writing off Mike Glennon, but last night I saw nothing to reverse my doubts about him. Yes, he was playing with and against backups. But the backup oline, though still bad, looked better than the starters.

Even so, the oline gave none of the QBs much time or safety. So I freely admit that. The problem I saw was that when the Bucs were not in the two minute offense, Mike Glennon is just too slow going through progressions right now. Still.

McCown moved good. If we had a good offensive line, the way he moved would have paid off quickly. Mike never took more than a couple steps, which would be okay if he had a quick release, but he didn’t. He was too slow. With a bad oline, he has to learn to move around. Period.

All of that said…I was impressed with several players on both sides.

As for Martin. The backups always look better in preseason. Just think back to the guys we had in the past.

I think last night’s game was good because it showed areas of concern for the coaches to go out and address with the players. Jenkins was great.

The oline looked bad but the fact that the jags kept jumping offsides and not getting called for it did not help our line it was ridiculous how many times they did. For those who doubt Glennon we will see when he plays with the ones he is our future and he is going to be our leader you will see.

If anyone thinks Sack Magnet Glennon behind our woeful OL (and I have been warning how worthless Cousins is), would have done any better than an athletic Josh did facing an excellent Jax D is completely dillusional! Sims and Rainey got a lot of the 140 yds attributed to Capt. Drop Off Passer, since he was inaccurate on a number of long passes overthrowing our open receivers. His reactions yesterday were just as slow as he was last year. He still is a loser and if Lovie is fooled otherwise just remember he is a great defensive coach but is deficient in offensive judgement! If otherwise he would have known better than to start Cousins and would already have grabbed a real franchise QB in the first round who could play like Bortles did last night. Give Joe credit, he knew we badly needed to take a QB with our first pick!

Doug Martin is a good little back but I would personally prefer to have a ball carrier that can push a pile two yards. Martin can’t do that. He hit’s it and stops. Eddie Lacy is the kind of back I’d like us to have. His style. Mike James gets the tough yards. Maybe Simms but I don’t think Martin is the bell cow.Not for long…